Background Music
by miss.eli
Summary: Movies might not be Beca's thing, but it gives her an excuse to hang out with Jesse, even though she'd never admit that to him (heck, she can hardly admit it to herself). Alternate/missing scenes leading up to and after the big ICCA kiss. Slightly OOC.


This has become their thing. Each Thursday night, Jesse brings over two movies, Beca picks the one that sounds the least mind-numbingly boring, and they take their places on opposite sides of her tiny bed. Although, if she's honest, she usually finds a way to edge closer to him during the movie. If she's being honest, she can't really help herself. There's some subconscious part of her that really wants to be closer to him.

Maybe it's the way his eyes dart between her and the laptop in front of them, making sure she's paying attention. Maybe it's the way he whispers lines along with the movie, or closes his eyes at particularly poignant musical moments. It might be the way he smiles at her after scenes he likes, his earnest grin lighting up his whole face as his eyes seek hers, trying to determine if she enjoyed it as much as he did. Usually she just smirks at him, not ready or willing to let her guard down and give him the reaction she knows he wants.

She insists she just finds the movies predictable and cliché, and that's why she's never paying much attention to them on moviecation night. She can't tell him it's because she watches him as much as he watches her, although she tries to be more discreet than he is. Usually she watches his reflection in the laptop screen, although that isn't fool-proof, since he's caught her eyes in the reflection more than a few times.

She shoves his arm or lightly punches his shoulder when she thinks he's being too sappy, like when he starts singing along with "Getting to Know You" while watching the King and I. But she lets him have his sentimental moment when Simba noses his way under Mufasa's paw after the stampede in The Lion King. She doesn't call him a wuss when he turns to her, eyes glassy with emotion as he purses his lips and gestures at the screen, silently asking "How can that not move you to tears?". She gives him a small twitch of her lips in what she hopes is a sympathetic smile, when all she wants to do is bury her hands in his thick hair and haul him against her.

"Comfortable" isn't the right word to describe how she feels around him, although she is. He puts her at ease with his easy confidence and his gentle teasing and his warm, receptive eyes. But she always feels on edge, too, because she hasn't let herself let down her guard since before her parents' divorce. Her defense mechanisms are so automatic she doesn't even realize she's missed a chance to let him in until she catches the light in his eyes drop momentarily when she shuts him down. He's always quick to regain his composure, trying not to let her see how much it stings to have her refuse even the smallest gesture of camaraderie. But she sees it, and she hates herself a little bit for not being able to let this sweet boy just have his moment.

The first time Beca falls asleep during a movie is the night Jesse brings over Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon ("Bogart Night" he calls it, grinning lopsidedly at her as she tries to decide on the lesser of two evils). She eventually settles on The Maltese Falcon and they take their stations on her bed. Jesse leans towards her during the opening credits, whispering facts about the movie. She nods, not really listening, focusing more on the electricity she feels coursing through the tiny gap between their shoulders. She glances at their reflection in the screen, certain she'll see arcs of electricity shooting between them, because she can literally feel them pulling her closer to him.

She's trying to focus on the movie, but she had an exhausting day. There was the midterm from hell in her biology class, and then Aubrey had apparently decided today was humiliate-Beca day, because she spent the entire Bellas practice singling Beca out and chastising her.

She lets her eyes drift shut, because really, she can hear the movie and that's enough, right? She tells herself it's just for a minute, because her eyelids feel so heavy, she just needs to rest them for a moment, but the next thing she knows she's waking up, sprawled across her bed, and, since the bed isn't that big, Jesse. She lays there a moment, regaining her bearings as she takes stock of her position. Her head is resting on his thigh, her arm slung across his knees.

She's mortified that her unconscious self made this kind of decision for her, but then she feels his hands on her. His touch is feather light, fingertips trailing back and forth on the arm she has flung around him, the other resting gently on her shoulder. She cracks one of her eyes open a sliver and can see she's missed most of the movie. She can see Jesse reflected in the laptop screen, but he's not watching the movie or even looking down at her. His chin is tilted up and he's staring at the ceiling.

For a moment she considers just closing her eyes and going back to sleep, because he's here and she feels more whole when he's around, even if he irritates her. A lot. Plus, she really likes the way it feels to have his hands on her. Which is why she sits up suddenly; because she can't like this, because she can't like him.

He's her…competition. No sleeping with the enemy. Whoa, whoa, whoa – nobody said anything about sleeping with him. Even though technically she was. Well, technically, she was the only one sleeping. Doesn't count. She can feel the edge of panic sliding up her spine. She doesn't feel anything for him except mild annoyance, right? Right?! She can't even convincer herself.

He's looking at her now, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "If I had known you were going to ignore the movie and just throw yourself at me, I would have brought something a little sexier to watch," he teases, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

She's grateful it's dark so he can't see the blush creeping up her neck. She wracks her brain for some scathing reply, something that will cut him down and convince him that he had no intention of throwing herself at him, now or ever, but she can't find the words. And even if she could, she's not sure she could say them convincingly enough to really give it much sting. Instead she mutters, "It's late, you should go."

He watches her, and she can see the hurt behind the bravado of his smile. Finally, he sighs as he stands to close the laptop and gather his belongings. As he heads out the door he turns and grins at her again, though not nearly as easily as before. "Don't even think you're getting out of watching the whole movie – we'll come back to this one so you can truly appreciate the intrigue and mystery rather than drooling over me all night."

She gapes at him. "I was not drooling!" she hisses. The twinkle in his eyes is back as his grin widens.

"Oh, yeah, you totally were," he teases, tilting his head to the side, gaping his mouth open and letting his tongue loll out of his mouth, adding in a few snores for good measure. She has the urge to throw something at him, but isn't fast enough. He laughs at his own joke and mocks, "Good night, Sleeping Beauty," to her before shutting her door quietly behind him.

That was the first, but certainly not only, time she fell asleep during one of their movie nights. Some nights, Jesse would pinch her side, making her yelp. He would glare at her (or, attempt to glare, since he could never quite keep a straight face) and point her head back towards the laptop screen. But most nights, he just lets her sleep. She's glad when, each time she wakes up, she's more or less on her own side of the bed, maybe leaning against Jesse's shoulder but not sprawled across him like the first time.

She really does try to stay awake, because Jesse is so enthusiastic about sharing his passion for movies with her (wait, the word she meant to use is irritating), and there are worse ways to spend her Thursday nights. But then there's the night they're watching Gone with the Wind, and she can't help it because really, who make a movie four hours long, and why are the characters all so ridiculous?

She nestles down into the blankets and pillows surrounding her, trying to position herself so that if she does fall asleep, she won't end up sprawled across Jesse again.

"Stop nesting and pay attention," he stage whispers at her.

"Fiddle-dee-dee," she mutters back, finally settled.

"See, it's working!" he gloats, grinning at her. It takes all of her will power not to succumb to his infectious grin and reward him with an equally goofy grin of her own. She manages to wrinkle her nose at him before turning her face back towards the laptop. And really, she swears she tries to keep her eyes open, but the next thing she know…

She wakes up slowly, her surroundings entering her consciousness in bits and pieces. It's still dark in her room, which means she at least didn't sleep the whole night, like the night they watched The Godfather and she woke to sun streaming through her window the next morning and no Jesse to be found. She remembers how oddly disappointed she was waking up that morning, feeling slightly empty because he had left her during the night, before she reminded herself that it would have been worse if he was still there. That would have been way too awkward. And what if Kimmy Jin had come back and found them sleeping in the same bed? Disastrous.

Which brings her back to the here-and-now: where is Jesse? It doesn't take long for her to register the gentle breath on the back of her neck. And the toned arm loped over her stomach. And the solid press of a chest – his chest – against her back. And the press of…something else…further down her back. Her eyes fly open in surprise, but something keeps her from leaping out of the bed and yelling at him for being a pervert.

Maybe it's because it's dark in the room and she feels bolder when no one can see what she's doing, or it's because she's finally willing to admit to herself that maybe she does like this guy. Just a little bit, not a lot or anything, because he's irritating and persistent and cocky. But a little bit. And it's really kind of thrilling to know she has that effect on him. Well, ok, she guessed she had that effect on him, since he's not exactly subtle with his feelings, which is why she feels like she constantly needs to shoot him down, to keep him from thinking he can keep pushing at her boundaries. But let's be honest, he's already way beyond the boundaries she had set up that first day at Barden. And to feel the proof of his desire for her pressing against the small of her back is a pretty good ego boost.

Making up her mind – a little longer, while he's asleep and no one is around to see them, won't hurt anyone – she snuggles back against his chest. His arm tightens unconsciously around her, and his forearm brushes the undersides of her breasts. She sucks in a sharp inhale of breath at the contact, because she didn't expect such a small touch, something so gentle and involuntary, would send sparks through her entire body and start a warm heat pooling between her legs. He sighs in his sleep, and the exhale of breath on the back of her neck makes Beca shiver. The movement of her body against his makes his hips buck, pressing his erection more firmly against her, and he gives a soft groan.

"This is getting out of hand," Beca chastises herself, but secretly she's thrilled. She won't admit – can't admit – that she's been dying to feel him pressed so firmly against her. The quick one-armed hugs he sometimes gives her when he heads back to his room only stoked her curiosity about the lean and toned body he keeps hidden under loose t-shirts and sweatshirts. And now she's getting the full show. The unexpected jerk of his hips must have woken him up just enough though, because his breathing changes and he shifts his arm again. When that brings him more fully in contact with her breasts, his entire body becomes tense and rigid against hers.

"What – " he mutters, voice still thick with sleep, before he wakes up completely with a surprised gasp. Beca holds herself completely still, not wanting him to know she's awake and actually rather enjoying herself. He lays still a moment more, taking stock of the situation, before he starts silently extricating himself. He's careful about removing his arm to not touch her chest again, but when he moves to sit up, it shifts his hips against her butt and she feels his erection twitch against her.

"Oh my god," she hears him breathe in horror, as he flings himself to the other side of her bed. She starts to feel a little offended that he's so distraught about waking up to find himself spooning her (c'mon, it's not like she's a troll, right?) until she hears him muttering under his breath.

"Pull it together, man. Are you out of your god-damned mind?" She peeks at him, and he's leaning his elbows on his knees, hands scrubbing up and down his face. "You're so fucking lucky she's still asleep. Never be able to live it down if…oh god…seriously Jesse, you gotta get this under control. Gonna scare her off." He gets up to start packing up his laptop, still muttering, although it's harder for Beca to hear him as he moves about the room.

She catches snippets like "…love-sick puppy…" and "…horny bastard…" as he paces the room. She can't help grinning the tiniest bit, and hope he can't see her in the dark.

She expects him to leave quickly once he's gathered his things, but he surprises her by lingering for a moment. And when she feels the gentle press of his lips against her temple, it takes all of her will-power not to gasp in shock. She hears him open the door, and whisper with no trace of mocking, "Good night, Sleeping Beauty," before closing the door gently behind him. At the snick of the door closing, Beca sits bolt upright and gapes at the spot Jesse had stood just seconds before, trying to calm her pounding heart from the electric pleasure of his lips against her skin.

He stands in the hallway, back pressed against the door, eyes squeezed shut as if trying to prevent the mortification from creeping into his brain. Taking deep, shuddering breaths, he slides down until he's sitting with his knees drawn up against his chest. "Ho. Ly. Fuck," he whispers, dropping his forehead to his knees.

"Tell me that didn't just happen," he chides himself. "Tell me you didn't just fall asleep against the girl you're in love with and nearly destroy everything by getting a hard-on against her back and copping a feel in your sleep." He groans, mostly because he really dodged a bullet by waking up before Beca, but also because the memory of the softness of her breasts and the press of her hips against his does nothing to ease his still present erection.

Jesse takes a few deep, bracing breaths before rising on shaky legs to trek back to his room. He's secretly thrilled when he cracks open the door to the room he shares with Benji and the other boy is snoring in bed. Usually he likes coming back to the room and having Benji there as a sounding board as he dumps out all the things he can't tell Beca. But tonight, he needs time to process, to thank the universe for getting him out of there with some dignity, to calm himself down before facing her at the radio station tomorrow.

He also needs to take care of himself, because there's no way he'll be able to sleep with this hard-on and the nights events chasing through his horny brain. He grabs a towel and heads to the bathroom, in need of a cold shower. It doesn't help, and he spends the night tossing and turning, plagued with dreams he has no right to be having. Beca, pulling him tight against her and melting into his kiss. Beca, crawling over him in his bed, her chestnut hair hanging in a seductive curtain over her shoulder as she kisses her way down his body. Beca, beneath him, eyes wild with pleasure as he moves between her legs. He wakes exhausted and aching, in desperate need of another cold shower.

At breakfast, probably slightly delirious from hormones and lack of sleep, Jesse has a thought. What if he stopped hiding his rampant desire for her? Not like jump her bones (at least not right away), but start making a few more moves. He's been trying his best not to scare her off, treating her like a skittish animal, though to be honest, that's what she reminds him of any time they get even close to anything other than sarcastic banter. Mind made up, he grins to himself before focusing on Benji, who he's been ignoring for the past 10 minutes.

For the next movie night, Jesse doesn't bring Beca options. Time to take a little of her power away, he smirks to himself. When he arrives at her room, he can tell she's not thrilled with his choice of The Breakfast Club, but it's his favorite movie and it helps his nerves, since his stomach has been in knots since she opened the door for him. He hasn't been this close to her since last moviecation night, and he eyes her bed with a little trepidation. He reminds himself that she is, thankfully, oblivious to how much he embarrassed himself last time, which calms his nerves slightly.

She stays awake this time, but when he glances at her as Judd Nelson crosses the football field, she's watching him, not the movie.

"You're missing the ending," he murmurs, turning his head. He didn't realize how close they were though, and her eyes are right there, inches from his own. The mocking glint drops from his eyes as he gazes at her.

"Sorry," she teases, glancing back at the screen. Her eyes don't stay there long because he hasn't stopped looking at her.

"I probably look a little creepy, but oh well. Now or never…," Jesse coaches himself silently.

He leans his head in further, his intention of kissing her crystal clear now. For a split second, he can see her lean towards him, and his heart leaps into his throat, but then something flashes behind her eyes and she leans away to stop the movie, breaking the moment. She leans back, not as close to him as before, and he's considering moving in a second time when the door flings open and the lights flash on as Beca's snarky roommate and her Asian posse tumble into the room.

Jesse blinks in bewilderment, because Kimmy Jin never comes back to the room this early on Thursdays. She might be there when he arrives, but she always leaves in a huff, and she never comes back before midnight, if at all. Knowing he's lost his chance tonight, Jesse picks up his laptop, and escapes the hostile glares of Kimmy Jin and her friends, frustration and embarrassment urging him away from Beca's room for a second straight week.

After Jesse's swift departure, Beca curls up in her blankets, absorbing the heat left from where they had been wrapped around him, breathing in his lingering scent.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she berates herself. "Why did you move away? Why can't you be a normal teenage girl and just let the guy kiss you?"

She squeezes her eyes shut because she doesn't want to admit to herself that she really wanted nothing more than to close the tiny distance between them and feel the electricity crackle through her. She doesn't want to acknowledge that she doesn't trust feelings like this, because her parent's divorce scarred her, leaving her skeptical of anything even resembling love.

Beca's eyes fly open. "Did you just say love?!" she gapes at herself. "No, you meant lust. Or…hormones. Something biological and definitely not something sappy and ridiculous and pointless like love."

When Kimmy Jin and her friends have left again (forgot her camera, or some equally stupid thing), Beca sprawls on her bed, pressing her face as deep into the pillows as she can. The war in her head is giving her a migraine. She knows that it's stupid to be so scared of letting Jesse be close to her, especially since he is so obviously crazy about her. And she also knows that she has never been more afraid of anything in her life. She sighs deeply and tells herself there's nothing she can do about the situation tonight, but she'll think of something.

Her brilliant plan ends up being "Avoid Jesse at all costs", and is put to the test the next day as they both work their way through the boxes of music at the radio station. Apparently Jesse doesn't get the memo – she has her bitch cape on, but he seems complete unfazed. He follows her around the station, oblivious to her scowls, offering up movie facts, babbling about which movie he's going to subject her to next. She doesn't realize he's maneuvered her into a corner until she turns around and he's way too close for comfort, invading her bubble. He's got a big grin on his face, but it looks almost predatory to her as he braces his hands on the walls on either side of her. Clearly, her plan has failed.

"What's your deal, Weirdo?" she jokes, trying to keep it light, trying to ignore the curl of heat starting in her belly. "Forget where the Justin Bieber goes?" She looks past his shoulder, trying to plan her escape. Then she hesitates – why is she being so timid? Maybe it's time to fight fire with fire. A wicked grin plays across lips, and she can see a hint of trepidation in Jesse's eyes when he senses the shift in her intentions.

So maybe he'd been coming on a little strong when he backed Beca into a corner, Jesse admits to himself. He expects a wry comment from her, and she does not disappoint, but then he sees the look in her eyes change from wary to determined. And that evil little smirk toying with her lips definitely does not bode well for him. Just as he's thinking maybe he'd better take a step back and diffuse the situation, try to play it off as a joke, Beca takes that step for him. Towards him.

His arms are still bracketed on the walls behind her, and it's a damn good thing because he would have toppled over in shock if they hadn't been. She's right up against him now, their bodies grazing, and Jesse is having a hard time remembering how to breathe.

She looks up at him expectantly, teasingly, but he can't for the life of him figure out what he's supposed to say. Oh, right. The Bieber thing. He swallows thickly, not sure of his voice at this point. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but all that comes out is a strangled, "Uhh…"

Beca's grin widens; she's enjoying this. "Because I think it goes over there," she says, brushing her arm up his side to point to a spot behind him.

She could be pointing at Narnia for all he knows, because he can't focus on anything except the rush of electricity he gets from her touch. He's still gaping down at her, his mouth hanging open stupidly. The door to the studio slams shut, making Jesse jump, breaking the spell Beca had cast on him. He backs away and clears his throat, wishing the people in his life didn't have such atrocious timing. Beca smirks up at him and he wants nothing more than to haul him against her and kiss that grin right off of her face, but he can hear Luke yelling something about lunch, and he knows it won't help his standing with the Brit if he ignores him.

Beca starts to saunter off, obviously pleased with herself for throwing him for such a loop, but he can't let her win this one. In a move he didn't know he was capable of, he grabs her waist as she passes him and spins her back towards him, pulling her flush against him. His other hand reaches up to run a thumb lightly across her jaw.

"This isn't over," he promises. "You haven't won yet." Now it's her turn to gape as he turns and walks away before he breaks the station rule of "No sex on the desk".

He spends the rest of the shift away from her, which suits Beca just fine. She needs some space to recover. That whole fighting fire with fire thing was going great until Jesse decided to up the ante. Now she feels all hot and itchy as she remembers the gleam in his eyes as he murmured his gentle threat to her. A delicious shiver races up her spine as she basks in the memory. Reason tries to break in, but she does her best to ignore the nagging voice inside her telling her she better back away and fast. She's been denying her feelings for so long, it's a nice change of pace to give in a little.

Jesse leaves before her, and Beca is a little (ok, a lot) disappointed because she expected him to pick up where he left off as soon as possible. Shouldering her backpack, she trudges back to the dorm, wondering if she really misread his intentions. She's sure she wasn't making up the gleam in his eyes as he held her face today, and she definitely hadn't misunderstood what his body was telling her while watching Gone with the Wind. So why had he left the station like his feet were on fire and he couldn't wait another second to get away from her? She sighs as she slides her key into her door and swings the door open.

"Hello, Clarice," a voice growls very near to her ear. Beca yelps in surprise and whirls around to find Jesse towering over her in the hallway.

"Holy shit!" Beca shouts, before realizing she's standing in the dorm hallway and drops her voice. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

He grins down at her, crowding her space, the predatory glint back in his eyes. "Just continuing your movie education," he murmurs, taking another step towards her. She takes a step back, but he keeps coming until they're both in her room.

"What?" she says, trying to understand what he's talking about, since it's not what she expected.

"Silence of the Lambs?" he answers, shutting the door behind him and flipping the latch. "Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster? Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling? Psychopathic serial killer and intrepid FBI agent?" He continues to advance on her.

"Really?" she quips, "You're going to quote a move about a serial killer as you stalk me in my dorm hallway and lock us in a room together?"

He gives her a disarming grin and admits, "Good point. But it really fit, and I had to go with it."

She smirks at him and backs up further into the room. But she's here in front of him, and they're alone, and the door is locked so there won't be any sudden interruptions from irritating British station managers or belligerent roommates. She knows where this is going and she's not going to ruin it by pressing the point.

The room isn't that big, and for the second time that day, Jesse has Beca backed up against a wall. This time, though, he doesn't see any wariness in her eyes. Instead, he sees eagerness, and (can he even hope for so much?) desire. He's thrown off by her openness, and he feels the urge to make confessions and declarations to her.

"Beca…" he mutters, lifting a hand to cradle her face. "I-I've…wanted to…"

"Stop talking," she interrupts, reaching both hands up and snaking them through his hair, pulling his head down to hers. She doesn't have to tell him twice – hell, he's not even sure he could form coherent words at this point.

"Ok," he manages, as he snakes his other arm around her waist, pulling her towards him, crushing her body against his. Their lips crash together and Beca swears she feels her knees buckle beneath her. Jesse's arm, strong around her back, keeps her upright and pressed against the hard plane of his body, so she can't be sure.

Her mouth opens in surprise at the fervor of the kiss, at the intense reaction it ignites in her, and Jesse takes that as an invitation to snake his tongue into her mouth, sliding it gently along the line of her lips before tentatively touching the tip of her tongue. She responds eagerly, tangling her tongue with his, and he moans into her mouth. Or maybe she moans into his. She's not entirely sure, because she stopped paying attention to silly things like where he ended and she began, focusing instead on the tightening ball of tension settled low in her abdomen.

Jesse is drowning. He's absolutely helpless to the current of lust raging through him because the girl he's been crazy about since he saw her unloading her luggage from a cab is now pressed against him, kissing him like she's never wanted anything more. Somehow, the logical part of his brain is able to make its way through the lust filled haze and remind him he needs to not act like a dog in heat, and that he might want to take this down a notch before he really embarrasses himself. He's already aware of the aching erection he's pressing into Beca's hips, but she doesn't seem to care; her hips are pressing against him in a subconscious, primal rhythm, and it takes every last ounce of his resolve to loosen his grip around her waist and start to gentle his kisses.

Beca isn't sure why Jesse is putting the brakes on, but she can sense a distinct shift in mood as his arm around her back releases and he starts to pull his mouth away. She's pretty sure things were going really well. She can feel his hard-on pressed against her, and her hips are sliding against his of their own volition, certain of things she has only just started to admit to herself. When she makes a moue of protest as he tries to extract his tongue from her mouth, he groans like he's dying, but it doesn't stop him from moving so that his lips are barely grazing hers.

Jesse drops his forehead to press against hers, breathing heavily. Come to think of it, Beca's chest is heaving, too, as she gasps for air. She lifts her eyes to his, and he's gazing down at her, eyes glazed with desire. She has to guess that she's probably got that same horny-deer-in-headlights look on her face, because when her eyes meet his, she could probably count all of his teeth with how wide his grin is. This time she doesn't stop herself from returning his grin. Because really, this is her life and she's the only one getting hurt by the walls and the defense mechanisms. She's going to let herself feel all of this, damn it.

Jesse lifts his other hand to cradle her jaw, his thumbs tracing the planes of her face almost reverently. Each touch sends rivulets of sparks sliding across her face. Her fingers are still splayed through his hair, and she draws them both out, leaving him looking disheveled and ravished – Beca instantly decides the look suits him. She drops her hands, letting them graze his chest and abdomen on the way down.

He shivers with pleasure at her touch and closes his eyes to savor the sensation, her fingertips leaving trails of fire down his torso. When she reaches the waistband of his pants and darts her fingers underneath the hem of his shirt to play along the soft skin there, he lets out a slow hiss of breath and lowers his mouth back to hers.

The first kiss had months of built-up sexual tension behind it, knocking both of them for a loop. This kiss is gentler, slower, a promise that there will be many more to kisses come. Jesse moves his head back when Beca tries to press harder against him, controlling the pace of their kiss, not giving her the satisfaction of slaking the wild heat coursing through her. Irritated, she grazes her fingernails up and then down his torso under his shirt, hoping to stoke that fire in him again, encountering sinewy muscles and a smattering of hair. He makes small, desperate noises in the back of his throat at her touch, but doesn't press any closer as she had hoped. In fact she can feel him moving further away, until he's holding her at arms distance.

Jesse is staring down at her, soaking in the sight of her as she slowly opens her eyes to look up at him. She looks so amazingly tousled and sexy, and the confused tilt of her eyebrows makes him want to crush her against him and ensure her that he has no intention of letting her get away now.

But he can't resist teasing her just a little bit. "Well…that was fun…" he drawls, quirking a lip at her, "But I'd better be getting back to my girlfriend…"

She doesn't even take him seriously for a moment as her eyes relax and she smirks back. "I'm sure your hand will let you stay a little longer," she retorts.

Not missing a beat he scoffs, "'Hand'-rea and I have been seeing each other exclusively for years! She's going to get jealous and probably dump me if she finds out I've been fooling around on her with a beautiful college girl."

Beca can't help but grin at the easy way he compliments her, and how ridiculous it is to be having this conversation is when they could be doing so many more interesting things with their mouths.

"You could bring her along next time," Beca offers, trying not to laugh now. "Get a little 'ménage-à-trois' action going." He chokes on his laughter, because he's not expecting her to say something like that, but then again, he knows she also never shies away from a challenge.

"I think you're trying to kill me," he sighs.

"Just trying to get you back over here," she purrs.

She can see him swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing quickly, before he replies. "About that…I really should probably stop before I do something embarrassing like come in my pants." He quirks a grin at her, but he's only half joking.

"You could take them off," she offers, and for a split second he considers it, because damn if he hasn't been hoping she'd say something along those lines to him since he met her.

Instead, he tries to keep things light, teasing, "Beca Mitchell, what do you think I am, some kind of tramp? I do not put out on the first date." He considers, then amends, "…before the first date."

The way his eyes widen when she offers he should undress matches Beca's internal shock at herself. Did she really just say that? This doesn't sound like her. Where did that come from? It's the way he kisses – the brain melting, fire-igniting way he kisses – it's thrown her for a loop and she can't believe how brazen she's acting. So when he plays her comment off as a joke, she only lets herself feel the tiniest bit of disappointment before reminding herself that it's really for the best that he didn't jump at the chance. But when he completely extricates himself from her grasp and leans back against Kimmy Jin's desk, considering her, the empty feeling she had noticed whenever he left after moviecation night is magnified and she feels almost like a critical part of her is missing. This is out of control, she thinks uneasily.

Jesse can see her internal battle. He knows she surprised herself with her offer, but there's more there behind her eyes, something more frantic and frightened. He has no idea what's causing that, but he knows he has to do something before she shuts him out again. He doesn't want to lose an inch of ground now that he's certain she's not completely immune to him.

Making up his mind, he reaches out to her, grabbing her hand. "Well, what are you waiting for? The faster we get these dates out of the way, the faster you get to ravish me," he announces, wiggling his eyebrows at her. He can see her relax, the way her shoulders drop and the panicked edge leaves her eyes.

"What did you have in mind?"

He wishes he had planned this better. When he raced out of the radio station that afternoon, he hadn't actually intended to go back to Beca's room, but he couldn't resist the pull of seeing her again, of testing the limits of what he had sensed among the stacks of music. And he really hadn't expected her to respond to him the way she had. But she had responded, more than he had ever let himself hope for, and now he was scrambling to get his lust filled brain to come up with something that wasn't completely lame. He ends up bringing her to his favorite pizza place just off campus, because it's casual and not too intimidating, and it's close enough that they can walk, which gives him a chance to thread his fingers through hers as they stroll down the sidewalk. She glances down at their intertwined hands in surprise, and he's pleased when she doesn't yank her hand away.

They split a "Barden Pile", which has basically every topping known to man on it, and Jesse grins when Beca digs right in. He loves that she's not one of those girls who pretends to not like food. Their conversation is easy and filled with teasing smiles, not awkward and stilted as Beca had feared it might become as they both came down from their hormone induced crazes. Neither one of them notices when Aubrey walks past and does a double-take, watching Jesse reach a hand up to wipe some sauce from the corner of Beca's mouth as she grins at him.

They take their time walking back to the dorm, Beca giggling in embarrassment and pleasure as Jesse starts singing "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore…" in an overdramatic Italian accent before she can shush him by pulling his face down to hers and grazing her lips against his. He desperately wants to follow her into her room, to come up with some excuse about the moviecation nights counting as previous dates, but he leaves after a few bone-melting kisses outside her door because as hot as he is for her, he needs a night to figure out how he wants to play this and he can't do that with her pressed against him. Beca lets him leave because she knows in the end it's better that she doesn't drag him into her room and start stripping him to get a better look at the skin she felt earlier.

The next time they're both working at the radio station, Jesse drags her into a corner of the upper level and rains kisses down the column of her throat as her hands knead his ass. He presses one hot, hard kiss against her mouth before pulling away and bounding down the steps at the sound of Luke coming in.

He finds other ways to keep her tingling and on edge while they work. Shooting her smoldering looks between the shelves as they stack music. Brushing her hair away from her neck as he leans over her shoulder as she digs through boxes of CDs and vinyl. Pretending there isn't enough room in between the shelves and pressing himself against her as he sidles past.

But when he tries to corner her before she leaves, she shrugs him off and says, "Emergency Bella meeting tonight. Aubrey found a new stick to shove up her ass I guess," before leaning up to press a chaste kiss on his cheek and heading for the practice space.

Aubrey opens the meeting with an announcement that leaves all of the girls groaning: "Effective immediately, I am instituting a strict 8 pm curfew, including weekends. We are not taking Semis seriously enough, and they are only days away. Our choreography is sloppy, our harmonizing isn't perfect, and I think it's because you're all still letting yourself get too distracted with school and boys." At this, her eyes sweep to Beca accusingly, and Beca does her best not to shrink from the venom she sees. She tries to keep the guilt from creeping onto her face, because there's no way Aubrey could know about her and Jesse, and besides they're not even doing anything besides watching movies. And kissing. And driving each other crazy. Ok, maybe he is a distraction. "I'm also doubling our weekend practices since we're clearly not ready for the pressure of Semis yet." Everyone groans again, and Beca has the urge to say something snide about Aubrey being so tyrannical, but the daggers Aubrey is shooting at her are enough to convince her to keep her mouth shut.

When Jesse gets the text from Beca that night about Aubrey's lock-down, he groans to himself but calls her back with some teasing encouragement, "It's not like you have a shot in hell of beating the Trebles anyway, so why bother? "

She grins at her phone and retorts, "You're right. It was just a ruse trying to let you down gently, since I'm having a passionate love affair with Luke and didn't want you to find us humping on the sound board next time you're at the station."

He laughs at her joke, but the knot that forms in his chest at the thought of her actually having feelings for the senior boy is uncomfortable. Trying to keep it light he replies, "Ouch, what will I tell our aca-children?" making her snicker before her voice turns serious.

"I really do need to try and keep out of Aubrey's line of fire, though. Not for her, because honestly it's fun to mess with her, but because all the other girls are working so hard and I don't want to be the reason we screw up."

"I understand," he soothes. "I'll see you at Semis though, in all your flight attendant glory. You'll be able to direct me to the nearest exit in case of an emergency."

"Ha ha. Hugh Hefner called and wants his velvet smoking jacket back," Beca drawls.

Jesse bursts out laughing. "Good night, Sleeping Beauty," he murmurs before he says something stupid like that he was going to miss her, even though it was only like a week.

"G'night," she replies quietly before hanging up her phone and turning to her mixing, resigning herself to no fun for the foreseeable future.

When the Bellas' bus runs out of gas on the way to Semis and the Trebles come to their rescue to drive them the rest of the way, Beca ends up sitting facing Jesse, who can't keep the stupid grin off of his face as he watches her. She wishes he'd stop, because if she looks him in the eye she knows she won't be able to stop herself from blushing, and then Aubrey will know that she's not ignoring the Trebles as ordered.

Aubrey is glaring between them, already seething that her mortal enemies are coming to her rescue, compounded with the fact that none of the girls seem to be respecting the most sacred of Bella vows – to hate Trebles. Fat Amy is squeezed next to Bumper, Lily is curled up next to Donald, and she's getting third degree burns from the smoldering looks Jesse is throwing at Beca, while Beca does her best to keep the self-satisfied grin off of her face as she studiously ignores his eyes.

And then when Beca starts screwing with the Bella's performance, Aubrey chases her off the stage, absolutely mortified from their public humiliation because of Beca's inability to fall into line. As Beca tries to fend off Aubrey's ranting, Jesse and the rest of the Trebles move into the wings for their turn on stage. When Jesse hears Aubrey screech, "Your attitude sucks, you're a grade-A pain in my ass, and I know you're hooking up with Jesse," he sees Beca hunch her shoulders trying to deflect the harsh words and he can't help himself but step in to try to smooth things over.

"Whoa, whoa, Aubrey, calm down. We're not hooking up, I swear," he interjects, and Beca whirls around at the sound of his voice. He expects to see some gratitude in her eyes, but instead they're hard and she glares at him.

She's so incredibly angry at Aubrey for not realizing she's inadvertently sabotaging the Bellas that she needs to take it out on someone, and yelling at Aubrey is like yelling at a brick wall. Plus, if Jesse's here, Beca might not be able to hide her feelings for him, and she wants nothing more than to prove Aubrey wrong.

"Jesus Christ, that's perfect! Of course you're here right now!" she snaps. She immediately regrets her words when she sees the wounded look in his eyes as his conciliatory smile drops. She wants to stop, but her defense mechanisms won't let her and she continues, "I don't need your help, okay? Could you back off?!" She can feel her friends staring at the back of her head, this kind of outburst completely out of character for her. Beyond mortified, she flees the building without a backward glance.

As the days pass and Beca's ire wears off, her guilt rises. She knows she had no reason to yell at Jesse like that. Thinking back, it was so like him to step in and try to be her knight in shining armor. She tries texting him, but when her messages go unanswered, at first for hours and then for days, she starts calling, but always ends up at his voicemail. She doesn't always leave a message, but she always listens to his greeting, hanging on to the sound of his voice, even though it's mechanical and a poor substitute for the real thing. Beca has all of spring break to wallow, so she borrows copies of Jesse's favorite movies and watches them, wishing he were next to her to provide his eager commentary. And when Chloe texts her that the Bellas have made it to the finals because of another team's disqualification, Beca knows this is her only chance to make things right.

But first, she needs to try to smooth things over with Jesse. She misses him desperately, and she just wants to see him. So she marches to his room, and refuses to leave until he opens the door to her. But when he gives her a blank stare and no smile, she knows a simple apology will not be enough to fix what she said. And when he shuts the door in her face, she stands in the hallway, stunned, trying to ignore the feeling that a piece of her heart has just been torn out of her chest.

Hoping to salvage at least one relationship, she bares her soul to the Bellas (using her dad's advice – really…she actually sucks it up and asks him for advice) and after a tense moment, Aubrey allows her back in. And in a surprise to everyone, hands over control of the group to Beca. Beca can see the path as if it's drawn out in front of her. She can set up the Bellas with the most amazing set-list for finals and win Jesse over in one fell swoop. If he's willing to let himself be won over.

"Which he will be," she promises herself, "You know he wouldn't have kissed you like that if…" but she has to stop because it literally hurts to think about the way he kissed her and the reason why he's not kissing her anymore.

Jesse tries not to think about Beca, about the way she showed up at his door, all earnest eyes and sincere smiles, about the way he shut the door in her face because it was either do that or haul her into his room and…Nope. Not thinking about it. It's actually a blessing in disguise when Bumper bails on the group, because now Jesse has something to occupy his time, something else to focus on rather than the fact that Beca hasn't made any attempt to get in touch with him since Spring Break. He knows he won't be able to ignore her forever, since the Bellas made it into the finals and he heard from Donald who heard from Lily that Beca had been allowed back into the group. He's glad she was let back – Aubrey is bizarrely uptight, even for a chick – but he just can't muster any more enthusiasm than that.

So when she comes up behind him just before the Trebles make their way to the stage at Finals and murmurs "Good luck" to him, he's not able to come up with anything more poetic than, "Thanks," and after a beat, "You, too."

He tries not to let his warring emotions impact his performance – he's incredibly excited for Benji's debut as a Treble-Maker – and he thinks they knocks it out of the park, although as soon as he finds his seat in the audience and the adrenaline from being on stage wears off, he's dwelling again.

The Bellas' set starts out pretty similarly to their other music, although Jesse recognizes that it's a new song. And as soon as Lily busts out some insane beat-boxing, he hears only Beca and her mixing skills in their new performance. It brings him back to the night they watched The Breakfast Club, when she let him listen to her mixes, her eyes vulnerable and hopeful that he would like what she obviously put her soul into. And since he's thinking about that night, he thinks about the next night, when he kissed her. And from there it's a slippery-slope back to reliving how much it hurt when she tore his heart out in front of everyone at Semis, yelling at him when all he was trying to do was defend her from her psychotic group leader.

He rubs his hand across his eyes, willing away the headache that's starting between his eyes, wishing the song was done so he can go back to pretending he isn't still hopelessly in love with Beca. Then the song changes. It takes a second for it to register to Jesse's ears, because he's trying so hard to drown out the girl performing onstage. But when he hears the unmistakable riff from Simple Minds, his eyes shoot up, and Beca is front and center on stage, staring at him. He feels himself start to smile before he remembers he shouldn't be smiling, and he turns to his fellow Treble-Makers as if to say "Are you seeing this?" Donald is grinning back at him knowingly.

He can't keep himself from bringing his eyes back to her. She's putting everything she can into the song, and he realizes this is her way of apologizing, her acknowledgement that she fucked up, big time. So as the song reaches the crescendo, he gives in and pumps his fist in the air for her, giving in to the grin tugging at his lips. Her face breaks into a brilliant smile and she blasts the rest of the song out of the water.

When the Bellas finish their set, Beca is the first off of the stage, racing to her seat in the audience, which happens to be directly behind the Treble-Makers. And Jesse. He's grinning at her as she practically runs her way down the aisle. She can't believe how much she missed that grin. He can't help but smile at her enthusiasm, the buoyancy of her smile lifting his heart up even higher.

"I told you, the ending's the best part," he shouts over the applause.

Of course he would say something like that, Beca thinks. Out loud, she replies, "You're such a weirdo," before grabbing his head and pulling him down to her. His hands find purchase on her waist as he lets himself sink into the kiss.

When the rest of the Bellas have arrived and Fat Amy makes a not-so-subtle comment about "dingoes in heat", Jesse and Beca release each other and take their seats for the rest of the performances. Jesse keeps turning around to grin at Beca, and each time she rewards him with an equally glowing smile. And when the Bellas are announced as champions, Jesse feels nothing but elation for Beca, for the recognition of all of her skill.

After, when the stage has cleared and the groups are mingling and congratulating each other, Jesse finds himself drawn again to her side. She's deep in excited conversation with Fat Amy, but when the blonde sees Jesse approaching she breaks the conversation off, muttering, "…and that's my cue. I will not be coming back to the room tonight, so I expect you to take full advantage of that. And him," she adds before bounding away. Beca doesn't understand, but then she feels Jesse's hands on her waist and coherent thought goes out the window.

When he spins her around to face him, she has a small smile playing across her lips. Jesse had planned to say something teasing when they finally got a chance to talk, but now, with Beca just inches away from him, he can't for the life of him remember what it was.

So he opts for a gentle, "You were amazing."

She's caught off-guard with his sweet admission, and she stammers, "You were a pretty tough act to follow, yourself." His smile widens, and he pulls her closer.

Her arms snake around his neck, and he leans down to whisper in her ear, "I missed you."

A sound that's half-laugh, half-sob escapes her chest, because there are not words in the English language strong enough to express to him how much she missed him, too, and how thrilled she is to hear him say that. So, instead of replying, she buries her face in his chest and just breathes in the scent of him. His hands cradle her back, and he drops a kiss on the top of her hair. It feels like a lifetime that they spend there, pressed gently against each other, just…absorbing.

When the implication behind Amy's announcement hits Beca full force, her mouth goes dry. Lifting her head to look at Jesse, she tries to clear the sudden lump in her throat.

"So, um…" she starts. "Whoa woman, where are you going with this? Are you absolutely certain you want to do this?" she asks herself. She digs around inside herself for some trepidation, some excuse why she shouldn't go through with the opportunity presented to her. She can't come up with anything. She felt so empty without Jesse in her life that she knows without hesitation that she wants this. Him. He's smiling down at her expectantly.

"So, um…" she starts again. "I have something for you. In my room." He's practically glowing, and he can probably see through her thinly veiled excuse to get him alone in her room, but he doesn't press her, simply says, "Ok," before releasing her and gesturing for her to lead the way.

She fumbles with the key card in the hallway, feeling silly for the sudden nerves coming over her. What if he wasn't actually interested in this? What if he decided that he's happy enough being just friends, and you're about to make a complete fool of yourself? Too late for second thoughts, the door swings open and Jesse follows her into the room. He can see the doubt starting to creep into her eyes, but that doesn't stop him from grabbing the "Do Not Disturb" hanger and placing it on the door handle before he shuts the door behind himself.

She's standing in the middle of the room at the foot of one of the two queen beds, fidgeting with her hands. Jesse knows he should probably say something to reassure her, but he's finally alone with Beca and he loves her, and the rush is too much to handle. He crosses the distance between them in two large strides. She's looking up at him, and he expects to see nerves, or doubt, or something in her eyes that would convince him to slow down, but all he sees is a yearning that mirrors his own and, god help him, there's no turning back now.

His mouth crashes down on hers and she responds instantly. Their tongues tangle as Jesse hauls her more completely against him. It's not close enough for either of them, and Beca slides her hands under his Treble-Makers jacket and slides it off of his shoulders. He shrugs out of the jacket without releasing her mouth, and slides his hands up her sides until his palms are resting on her rib cage. His hands fist in the fabric and pull upward, un-tucking the blouse from her jeans. When she reaches up to start unbuttoning his shirt, he takes the opportunity to kiss his way down her jaw and throat, finding a spot at the base of her neck that makes her hands fist in the front of his shirt and elicits a guttural sound from her.

"This is going to take forever if you don't stop doing that," she purrs, flexing her hands against his chest.

"This is going to go really fast if you keep making noises like that," he counters, flicking his tongue against the sensitive spot again before conceding and lifting his eyes to meet hers.

He watches her concentration as she goes back to work unbuttoning his shirt, his hands toying with the skin above the waistband of her jeans. He loves this, can't believe that the night is ending this way. He may not have won the ICCAs, but he's definitely a winner tonight.

When she pulls the button-down open and sees the t-shirt underneath, she glares up at him. "How many shirts are you wearing?!" she mocks in exasperation.

"Only three more to go," he teases back. "How about you?" he asks, as his fingertips graze up her spine. "How many shirts is Champion Beca wearing?"

"Too many," she answers, surprising him by reaching down to her hips and lifting her shirt over her head without unbuttoning it.

She's standing in front of Jesse in only a barely-there black bra and jeans, and Beca can't believe she doesn't feel exposed or vulnerable. The way his eyes nearly bug out of his head goes a long way towards building her confidence and she smirks when he glances up to meet her eyes like he's a guilty toddler caught with his hand in the cookie jar. When, after a few beats, he still hasn't made any move, Beca realizes she's going to have to run this show, so she grabs the hem of Jesse's t-shirt and yanks it up. It's enough to snap him out of his fog, and he helps her lift the fabric over his head before tossing it away.

Now it's Beca's turn to stare. She may have felt his torso pressed against her but it did nothing to prepare her for the sight of his lean body. Jesse isn't extraordinarily muscular, the way Luke is, but he has well-defined pecs and abs, and a delicate trail of dark hair starting under his belly button and leading down beneath the waistband of the jeans slung low on his hips. And his arms…she's always had a thing for arms, and Jesse is a prime specimen. "Like what you see?" he teases, and as her eyes snap up to meet his she knows a guilty blush is spreading across her cheeks.

Jesse closes the small space between them, and reaches for Beca again, with every intention of slowing things down and savoring every moment. But the instant her lips meet his again, all those intentions go flying out the window, because she's so damn responsive to his touch, and the feel of her skin against his shouldn't be this electric (but it is), and she keeps making these small, mewling noises in the back of her throat that are driving him absolutely insane. Their hands skate over each other's newly bared flesh, exploring, learning.

He maneuvers them around until Beca's knees hit the edge of the bed, and she lays herself backwards, leaning up on her elbows to gaze up at him with eyes glassy with desire. She sees him swallow and knows he's thinking this is the point of no return. She doesn't know how to tell him she was at that point when she kissed him in the audience, so instead, when he murmurs gently, "You're sure?" she responds by smiling and reaching up to unbutton the fly of his jeans.

Jesse stills at the sight of her hands reaching for his crotch, and he sucks in a sharp breath when her small hands brush against his throbbing erection as she unbuttons his pants. He puts a shaky hand over hers when she moves towards his zipper, stilling her motions because he's not sure he can survive if he lets her continue. He finishes removing his jeans, leaving him in only his boxers, and then leverages himself down until he's crouching over her on the bed. His lips find hers again and her back arches off the bed as he makes quick work of divesting her of her jeans.

Jesse gazes down at her as she lies sprawled beneath him in only her bra and panties.

"Beca…" he breathes as his hands toy with the straps of her bra. He slides one strap down her shoulder, then the other, pausing to kiss the slight indents left in her shoulders from them. He traces the line of the cups along her breasts, dipping his finger under the fabric to graze her nipple. She gasps at the touch, the sensation shooting straight to the sensitive spot between her legs. He reaches behind her and fumbles with the hooks on her bra before Beca laughs and reaches behind her back and unclips the straps in a swift, single-handed move.

"That's probably the sexiest thing I've ever seen," he mutters, but then he's stopped by the sight of Beca wriggling out of her bra, laying back and smiling shyly up at him. "I stand corrected," he groans, toppling onto his side next to her so he can have a better view of her body. Beca expects him to go straight for her newly exposed breasts, but he traces his fingers along her collar bone, lingering there, until she's writhing next to him, wishing he'd just touch her.

Hoping to incite him into action, she reaches down towards his erection pressed against her hip, but he stops her with a gentle hand on her wrist.

"Ladies first," he murmurs, kissing her knuckles before placing her arm over her head. She growls in frustration as he goes back to tracing her collar bone and shoulder. He chuckles softly, because he knows he's toying with her, that she wants the same thing he wants. But he also wants to savor every second, learn every inch of her, discover what makes her sigh, moan, and whimper.

He replaces the fingers at her shoulder with his mouth, nipping the soft skin gently with his teeth then soothing the sting with a swipe of his tongue. At the same time, he trails his fingers lower, letting them bump along Beca's ribs, giving her goose bumps. And she can't help but sigh with pleasure when his fingertips finally graze the sensitive underside of her breast. She remembers the electricity from the night his arm had inadvertently brushed her chest, but it pales in comparison with the fireworks Jesse is igniting with each gentle touch of his fingers. She cries out when his lips descend to her breast and she feels the flick of his tongue against her nipple. She splays her fingers through his hair to keep his head right where it is, and he obliges her, using his tongue on one breast while his fingers work the other.

The way she's reacting to him might actually kill him, Jesse considers. Not that he's going to stop. He's dreamed of this for too long. When he looks up at her face and sees that she's watching him, her pupils dilated with pleasure, he can't help but groan and trail his lips up again, capturing her lips in frantic kiss. His hands slide down her flat stomach, catching at the waistband of her panties and dragging them off of her in a single movement. He leans up and surveys her, barely able to believe that he's this lucky, that she chose him.

"Like what you see?" Beca intends her voice to be teasing, a reminder of his mocking when she stood gaping at him shirtless, but it comes out too breathy, sounding more like an invitation than sarcasm. Jesse swings his eyes to her and she can see the raw lust burning in him.

"I think you're trying to kill me," he whispers, dropping a lingering kiss to her lips.

"Not until I get mine," she replies, and this time her voice has the right tone to sound like teasing. "What about 'ladies first', Mr. Romance?"

He responds by cupping her breast fully in his palm, making her eyes roll back in her head slightly, then murmurs, "Oh, you'll get yours, darling. Don't you worry." He grins at her, and she wants so badly to retaliate, to tease him until he's panting and begging beneath her ministrations, but she can't really focus on anything besides the feeling of his mouth and hands on her.

Jesse presses a kiss to the soft valley between her breasts before kissing his way lower, stopping to dip his tongue into her bellybutton and making her laugh breathlessly. The heat curled low in her belly bursts into a full-on wildfire when his fingertips trail over the top of her thighs, pressing her legs open gently to allow him access. She complies willingly, and she's rewarded with a single finger sliding up her slit.

She supposes she should be embarrassed by how wet she is, by how desperately she wants him, but she can't muster anything other than a moan as he reaches the sensitive bundle of nerves that everything inside her is focused on. She feels him groan against her stomach at her response, which makes her heart flutter wildly. He stills when he's settled between her legs, sending her a smoldering stare before replacing his finger with his tongue. Beca throws her head back against the pillow and arches her back off of the mattress at the contact, blown away by the sensation. He mouths her gently, tasting her, using the tip of his tongue to tease and the flat of his tongue to soothe. Her hands scrabble at the sheets, trying to find purchase, needing to anchor herself to something before she explodes.

She's almost there; she can feel the orgasm building, when Jesse pulls his mouth away. She swings her eyes towards him, wild and unfocused, trying to figure out why he stopped. She's so close, just a moment more…just…ugh, why did he stop?! She wants to growl at him, and Jesse can't help but grin at the frustrated look on her face as she glowers at him. He flicks his thumb against her clit, and she flutters her eyelids in pleasure, then he waits until she's locked eyes with him before doing it again. She writhes her hips, trying to show him without words how desperately she needs him to bring her over that edge, but he's unmoved. He wants to hear her say the words, wants her to ask for exactly what she wants.

He doesn't have to wait long.

"Jesse…" she breathes, the sound hissing out of her in frustration. His heart swoops at the sound of his name coming from her mouth.

"Yes, Beca?" he responds, nipping at the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. She lifts her hips towards him, as if in offering, but he studiously ignores her silent plea.

"Jesse!" she tries again, this time reaching a hand down to tangle itself in his hair.

"What do you want, Beca?" he breathes, letting his tongue dart out to touch her clit.

"That!" she moans, flexing her fingers against his scalp.

"This?" he teases, sliding his tongue the entire length of her slit. She whimpers her assent, and he almost gives in then, but he wants to hear her say the words so badly. "I didn't catch that, darling. What do you want?"

Beca knows now he wants to hear her say it, to beg him, and for a split second she considers resisting, but she knows she won't get any real satisfaction out of that. Literally. So she caves.

"Jesse…" she starts, swallowing against her dry throat.

"Mmm?" he hums against her, making her lose her train of thought.

She tries again, "I want you to – " her voice trails as his tongue hits her clit again.

"Yes?" Oh, this man is pure evil and she would hate him right now if she weren't in such desperate need of him.

"Jesse, make me come," she finally manages to croak.

She can feel him smile against her as he whispers, "With pleasure," before returning his mouth to her folds.

She's so close she can barely breathe, and when he gently slides two fingers inside her while his mouth (that talented, talented Treble-Maker mouth) massages her clit, she only lasts two pumps of his hand before stars are exploding across her eyelids and she's arching and twisting as Jesse milks every last second from her orgasm. He drops one last gentle kiss against her inner thigh before hauling himself back up the bed so his face is level with hers.

Beca's body feels like Jell-o. She's not entirely sure there's anything left to her except a pile of goo after what is admittedly the most amazing orgasm of her life. When she finally finds the strength to pry her eyelids open, Jesse's face is above hers, gazing down at her with such loving eyes it makes her want to cry, although she can see the hint of pride, too.

She doesn't even bother trying to take him down a notch with some sarcastic comment, opting instead to whisper, "I think I just died." His grin spreads and he drops a kiss to the sensitive spot at the base of her neck.

"I certainly hope not, because I'm not into necrophilia. Although for you I might make an exception…" he teases. She swats him on the chest and he rolls to the side, laughing.

The laughter catches in his throat when her hand darts between them and brushes against his erection. She rolls onto her side, propping her head on her arm as she smirks at him. This is going to be fun, she thinks as she cups him fully through his boxers and he makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat, his hips flexing against her hand of their own accord. Wanting to torture him as mercilessly as he tortured her, Beca drops her lips to kiss along his throat and collar bone, finding a spot behind his ear that makes him writhe and whimper in pleasure.

Jesse's already so close that he's pretty sure he's going to embarrass himself if Beca keeps going. When she shifts lower down his body, letting her tongue and lips skate over his chest, he groans and tries to pull her back up his body. She won't cooperate and continues moving south, trailing her fingers over his abs until her fingers catch in the waistband of his boxers. He forgets to breathe as she slides the boxers down his hips, letting her fingers graze the tops of his thighs as she does so. She catches his eye as she settles herself over him, giving him a wicked smile before darting her tongue out to catch the drop of moisture glistening at the tip of his erection.

It takes all of his willpower not to come that instant. Beca licks her way down his shaft before moving back to the tip and taking him fully in her mouth. All of the air rushes out of Jesse at the sensation and he desperately tries to stop his hips from bucking wildly in her mouth. When Beca starts sliding up and down his shaft, all slippery tongue and lips, he knows he has to stop her.

He slides one hand down to feather through her hair, pushing it away from her face before croaking, "Beca, you have to stop."

He immediately regrets saying anything when the seductive gleam in her eyes drops and is replaced with self-conscious doubt. "No, no, no. You're not doing anything wrong," Jesse assures her, then gives a strangled laugh, "It's too good."

The gleam is back in Beca's eyes, and she starts to lower her mouth again, but Jesse holds her face up. "Seriously, if you keep doing that, I'm going to embarrass myself before I have a chance to prove to you that I'm a sex-god."

He can see the twitch of her lips like she's dying to say something sarcastic, but she surprises him by saying instead, "Condom?"

She can tell by the blank look on Jesse's face that he hadn't thought that far ahead. "I…do you have one?" he asks. Beca shakes her head no and she can see the concern spread across his face.

"I wasn't expecting…this…tonight," he whispers. "I don't just carry condoms with me." He sounds so apologetic, like it's his fault he didn't come prepared, that Beca can't help but smile. Jesse doesn't expect that kind of reaction to this revelation and is about to apologize again when Beca interrupts him.

"We have time," she murmurs, "This is not your only chance."

Just to make sure there is absolutely no misunderstanding her, Beca lowers her mouth to Jesse's cock, swirling her tongue around the head before taking him into her mouth again. In moments, Jesse's hips start thrusting sporadically, his thin veneer of control cracking. Beca loves the desperate, animalistic noises that she's eliciting from him, loves the feeling of power it gives her, loves that she's the one making him feel this way. And when he cries out her name and arches his back off the bed as his seed hits the back of her throat, she knows that she loves him, her weirdo.

With his last ounce of strength, Jesse hauls Beca up his body and crushes her against him, peppering kisses against her forehead and cheeks. She nuzzles his neck, and he can't help but sigh, perfectly happy. They lay curled against each other for a few moments while Jesse recovers, when Jesse feels her small hands slide down his body again.

"Jesus, woman," he teases, reveling in her touch, "I'm not a machine. Give me a second to recover."

"Just…appreciating," she murmurs back, skimming her hands lightly over his body, making him shiver in pleasure. "I suppose you'll do. I mean, you're no Luke, but you're pretty sexy." At this, he gives a small growl and tumbles her across the bed, crouching over her with his hands braced on either side of your head.

"Beg your pardon?" he asks lightly, letting his hips press against hers. Beca can see by the way his eyes flash that he's still jealous of the station manager, despite what just happened between them.

Deciding to throw him for another loop (because, really, it's so much fun to tease this boy), she changes topics, "You're much bigger than I thought. I figured I knew what to expect after Gone with the Wind, but I gotta say you surprised me." She can see the pleasure on his face at the compliment slowly fade as the rest of her statement sinks in, until he's gaping down at her.

"You – but – I – you," Jesse stammers, his mind racing, mortification building, until he finally sighs, "Fuck," before dropping himself down.

Beca's hands trace against his back for a moment before reaching around to his chest and pressing, "Can't breathe, weirdo."

"Sorry," he mutters, leveraging himself off of her. "I'm just going to go over here and die of embarrassment, ok?" He swings himself up so he's sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from Beca. He feels Beca shift on the bed behind him, and then she's pressed against his back, arms snaking around his stomach.

"I didn't mind," she whispers against his ear, nipping at his earlobe.

"So much for proving I'm a sex-god," he laments, but he turns around to face her, folding her against him and kissing the top of her head.

"I'll give you another shot," she purrs, pulling his mouth down to meet hers in a hot, lingering kiss.

Beca swears Jesse sets a land-speed record in pulling on his pants and shirt before running down to the hotel lobby to buy a box of condoms, and it's not until he's back in the room, unbuttoning his jeans that she realizes he put his t-shirt on inside out and backwards. She laughs at him, but he pounces on her, capturing her mouth, and soon she can't remember what was so funny. He pulls a foil packet from the box, but Beca takes it from him, rolling the latex down his shaft as Jesse's hands tremble against her face.

Jesse pulls Beca onto his lap so she's straddling him, and they both pause as she positions herself above him. They're both concentrating and when Jesse whispers "Ready?" Beca only nods, all teasing forgotten. They both suck in sharp breaths as Beca lowers herself slowly onto him, and when he's fully sheathed in her, they cling to each other, reveling in the sensation. Jesse's fingers flex into Beca's hips as she starts moving against him, her breath coming in short gasps each time she drops against him. He grits his teeth, wanting to make this last forever, wanting to make this perfect, and when he feels her tighten around him, he slides his hand to where they're joined and rubs her clit until she's clawing at his shoulders and gasping his name.

As Beca's fervor from her orgasm subsides, Jesse flips her onto her back, settling fully between her legs. He thrusts into her deeply, and her hands fly wildly across his body. He only has a moment to savor the feeling of her clutching at his shoulders before she's gripping his ass, pulling his hips tight against hers, then sliding her hands up his back to fist in his hair. When his thrusts become less controlled, Beca knows he's close and tilts her hips up to meet each of his thrusts. The building pressure explodes within her as Jesse gives three final, frantic thrusts and follows her into oblivion.

They lie tangled together for several long moments, breathing heavily, pressing haphazard kisses against whatever skin is available. Finally, begrudgingly, Jesse hefts himself off of the bed to dispose of the condom. When he returns from the bathroom, he finds Beca snuggled under the covers, watching him with glowing eyes.

"You're on my side," he teases, as he lifts the blankets and slides into bed next to her. She snorts and nuzzles against his side, not deigning to respond.

Feeling sated and secure, Beca doesn't even realize she's dozed off until Jesse pinches her side.

"What?" she mumbles grumpily.

"Where's Amy?" Jesse asks, his tone implying this is not the first time he's repeated this question.

"Gone," Beca grumbles, trying to snuggle back against his side.

He laughs and pinches her again, "I can see that. Do I need to worry about her coming back and seeing me naked, and then you two having a sexy lady-wrestling match to decide who gets to keep me?"

She snorts and shoves at his side, but he doesn't budge, only tightens his grip around her shoulders. "No, she told me she's not coming back to the room tonight. Said something about how I should use the opportunity to take advantage of you," she grins up at him.

"And I'm so very glad you listened to her," he replies, leaning down to kiss her gently.

"Me, too," she admits softly when their lips part.

Looking down at her, Jesse knows he can't stop himself from speaking, so he holds her chin up, gazing into her eyes. "You don't have to say anything, I totally understand if you don't, but I can't stop myself," he starts, nerves knotting in his stomach. He waits a beat, then murmurs, "I love you, Beca."

His eyes search hers, looking for panic or doubt or something to indicate he just crossed a major boundary. Instead, she grins up at him, eyes sparkling, and murmurs back, "I love you, too."

Jesse kisses her, trying to convey how elated he is, and Beca responds in kind. When their kiss slows, Jesse presses his forehead against hers, unable to stop the grin spreading across his face. "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. I feel like screaming off the rooftops," he hums.

This reminds Beca of hood night, when, half drunk, he stood on the stone bleachers and shouted that they were the "kings of campus", and she smiles, because he probably would go up to the roof and yell if she let him.

"Well some of us are tired from winning the ICCAs," Beca teases. "Maybe you can go rooftop yelling tomorrow."

"Maybe," Jesse concedes, dropping another kiss to her lips. He reaches over to shut off the bedside lamp, then adjusts their positions so he's spooning her. She presses against him and yawns before turning her face back to receive his kiss.

"Good night, Sleeping Beauty," he murmurs against her hair, sliding his arm around her to draw her completely against him.

"Good night, Prince Charming," she sighs, her breathing already starting to even out.

Jesse lies quietly, soaking in everything that happened, marveling at how much things can change in a few short hours. When he hears Beca's breathing become deep and steady, he presses a kiss to the back of her neck as he whispers, "I love you," because he'll never get sick of telling her that. She stirs against him, but doesn't wake, and he drifts to sleep thinking about which movie he's going to pick for the next moviecation night.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed and fave'd this story. This is my first attempt at fanfic, and I'm really touched with the overwhelmingly positive response. I've seen a lot of comments of "More, please!", and I was considering doing a series of one-shots, but I need some help. If there are scenes or situations you'd like to see, I'd love to have your ideas. I have a few of my own, but I'm happy to take on the stories you want. PM or comment with your ideas and I'll get to work on some new stories!


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